Having a tough time sharpening some Gerbers

K

KBobAries

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May 13, 2009
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Dad and I spent some time yesterday afternoon digging through his knife box. I brought a couple home thinking I could use my Sharpmaker then return them nice and sharp.

WRONG!! Those blades are tough and I can't get an edge on them to save my life. I've never had this problem with my Benchmades; a few strokes and they're good to go.

There are 2 LST Magnums, 1 LST, 1 Paul (first generation), and a small lock-back. They're all 1987 or older.

1) Does anyone know what steel Gerber was using for blades during that time frame?

2) How in the world do I put an edge on them? Will investing in a set of diamond rods for my sharpmaker help?

Thanks,

Dan
 
i have sharpened a lot of the older gerbers from the late 80's and early 90's and never had any trouble sharpening them even when doing them by hand. now i use paper wheels to sharpen with and they work great. there are quite a few members just now finding out how well they work. here is a thread i started on them and there are a few other threads going too. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787
 
Having bought and used a set of the diamond rods for the SharpMaker, I'm not a big fan of them, considering their expense relative to coarse emery cloth.

I think you're better off buying some coarse emery cloth (or sandpaper) of 80 or 100 grit and 150 grit. Cut strips of the emery cloth and clip a strip to the rod with a binder clip. Then use the SM but by pulling the blade up (instead of the usual pushing down) so the edge doesn't cut into the emery cloth. You might have to go through a few strips to get to a good edge, but you will get there sooner with the coarse emery cloth than with the diamond rods.

Do only one side until you raise a burr.

Using these coarse grits, you can reconfigure the edge to match the angles that the SM uses (15° and 20°). Mark the edge with a Sharpie so you can see where the edge is being cut by the abrasive.

Once you have created a burr on one side, switch to the other side and raise a burr on the other side.

Knock the burr back and forth a few times and switch to the coarse (brown/grey depending on your opinion of the color) rods.

Once you've used the emery cloth clipped to the SM rods to reprofile the edge, it should be easy to maintain with the SM.
 
I have a respect for some of the older Gerber knives. Even their 440C blades seem to be harder than expected and they did make blades from some high speed tool steel.

You're probably reprofiling and havent gotten to the edge yet. Did you do the old black-marker-along-the-edge routine yet?

As to diamond rods for the Sharpmaker, I have a pair but feel they lack value unfortunately.

I reprofile by hand and find the inexpensive "Duckfoot" sharpening thingy has been adequate for many blade shapes.

Also, DMT offers bunches of diamond sharpeners and there is always diamond "paper" and "films" from a lapidary (stone polishing supplies).

I always remember to take my time reprofiling, BTW, since you can really screw up a knife's finish and appearance with over-zealousness.
 
Thanks, all, for the replies.

Richard,

I had previously read your other thread. It sounds quite interesting and right now it's very apt. I'm spending a lot of time on these and making very little progress. At the moment it isn't a feasible setup for me but it would be nice to have the paper wheels someday. If the other trick mentioned doesn't work you might get a package and money order in the mail.

Swedge,

Thanks for the emory cloth tip. I'm going to give that a go.

orthogonal,

I have marked the blades with a Sharpie a couple times. Metal is being removed and it's pretty even front to back and also when compared side to side so my stroke is fairly consistent. I've even cleaned the rods to make sure they aren't coated from previous use.


Dan
 
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